The Top 10 Traveler-Friendly Facilities
By Melissa Wirkus, associate editor
For the second year in a row, TravelNursing.com delivers its annual report on the Top 10 Traveler-Friendly Facilities. The list below takes a look at the highest-rated facilities based on over 4,500 evaluations by travel nurses on assignment in 2008-2009,* to find out which facilities emerged as top traveler-friendly contenders. The report explores the characteristics that make a facility attractive to travel nurses and showcases the range of opportunities available to them. From the variety of locations to the diverse specialties and practice settings represented here, the traveler-friendly facilities list gives nurses 10 more reasons to take their career on the road. Here are the top 10 hospitals as rated by survey respondents.
Ketchikan General Hospital - Ketchikan, AK
Coming in at #1 in several categories including staff friendliness, nurse manager, orientation and RN staffing levels, Ketchikan General Hospital was the highest rated facility amongst travel nurses. With stunning mountain and ocean views, excellent patient care and a welcoming staff, Ketchikan embodies all of the elements that make up a great travel nurse assignment.
“Staff friendliness was, by far, the best I have experienced,” said Jean O’Brien, RNC, BSN, JD, an L&D nurse who worked at Ketchikan for 14 weeks with travel nurse staffing company, American Mobile Healthcare. “The staff—including nurses, managers, midwives and physicians were all very friendly and accommodating to travel nurses. The housing provided was perfect and within walking distance to the hospital.”
This small facility provides a variety of services including long-term care, trauma, inpatient and outpatient services and home health care. Travelers on assignment at Ketchikan were impressed with the staff and the self-sufficient nature of this rural facility. “Orientation was more than adequate as were staffing and safety levels,” remarked Sandy Cabell, RN, an American Mobile travel nurse. “Because Ketchikan is so isolated, they have to be ready for any emergency and be able to handle it or stabilize it to transport to Seattle or Anchorage.”
Longmont United Hospital - Longmont, CO
Longmont United Hospital recently celebrated its 50th anniversary and completed a major renovation and expansion project which includes a new 28,927 square foot Emergency Department and 18-bed patient tower. Traveling nurses gave the facility one more reason to celebrate, as their ratings positioned Longmont towards the top of the most traveler-friendly facilities list.
Travelers on assignment with Longmont praised the staff’s friendliness and gave the facility high marks in the nurse staffing levels and patient safety categories. With 201 beds and a wide-range of services offered, travel nurses also had the opportunity to learn a variety of new clinical skills and techniques during their time at this Northern Colorado hospital.
Verde Valley Medical Center - Cottonwood, AZ
Serving North Central Arizona, Verde Valley Medical Center is a 99-bed hospital that ranked highly amongst the surveyed travel nurses. Jennifer Brewer RN, BSN, NE-BC, chief nursing officer and vice president of nursing for Verde Valley attributes the facility’s favorable ranking to its clinical excellence and commitment to the nursing staff—both permanent and travelers.
“Verde Valley Medical Center welcomes travelers into our organization like a core hire,” Brewer explained. “Our facility promotes excellent customer service to our patients as well as our fellow colleagues. Our colleagues are always friendly and willing to lend a helping hand.”
Travel nurses who took an assignment at Verde Valley noted the appreciation the staff had for them, which translated into a successful assignment for both the RN and the core staff at the facility. “Travelers can be available on short notice and because of their background they can be utilized in several areas,” Brewer explained. “This flexibility makes the decision to bring a traveler on board easier.”
Seattle Children's Hospital - Seattle, WA
Widely recognized as one of the leading pediatric hospitals in the U.S., Seattle Children’s has been featured regularly among the nation’s best children’s hospitals by U.S. News & World Report magazine and received Magnet Status in 2008 for its nursing excellence.
Travel nurses looking to advance their clinical skills and gain valuable experience, all while living and working in an exciting and lively city, need to look no further than Seattle Children’s. Ranking high in the patient safety and learning new skills categories, travelers at Seattle Children’s also unanimously reported that they would recommend the facility to other nurses. With excellent opportunities available for travel nurses in a multitude of specialties, Seattle Children’s remains a favorite with mobile RNs.
Community Memorial Hospital - Menomonee Falls, WI
With a “never-ending commitment to providing the highest quality healthcare to our patients in a safe, comfortable environment,” the healthcare professionals at Community Memorial Hospital have made a pledge to put patients first. Travel nurses working at this facility also noticed their commitment, and gave the hospital superb marks in the patient safety category.
Licensed for over 200 beds, the facility has a robust nursing program including retention programs for staff nurses, and recruitment efforts and other programs for student nurses. The facility’s dedication to its nursing staff was also felt by travel nurses who had an assignment there. When asked whether they would work at the facility again, the vast majority of travel nurses who worked there said “yes!”
CHRISTUS St. Michael Health Care Center - Texarkana, TX
Rated the third best place to work in healthcare in the nation in 2009 by Modern Healthcare, CHRISTUS St. Michael has already distinguished itself as a great place to work. Travel nurses on assignment at the 312-bed facility also recognized the facility’s stand-out qualities—especially in the staff friendliness category.
The responsive permanent staff combined with the excellent patient care and central location of the campus earned the full-service health care center as spot on the list.
VA Palo Alto Health Care System - Palo Alto, CA
Composed of three inpatient facilities and seven outpatient facilities throughout the Bay Area, the VA Palo Alto Health Care System offers a variety of opportunities for travel nurses across different specialties and practice scopes.
In addition to providing primary care services to veterans and their family members, the VA Palo Alto Health System also offers a wealth of comprehensive health care services including hospice and palliative care, telemedicine and geriatric research and education programs. Located in a desirable enclave of the San Francisco Bay, travelers will find plenty of career opportunity and endless leisure-time activities and recreation at Palo Alto.
Indian Health Services PHS Crow Agency/Crow-Northern Cheyenne Hospital – Crow Agency, MT
Accredited by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Crow Service Unit is a 24-bed health facility serving the people of the Crow and Northern Cheyenne nations. Nestled in the valley of the Little Big Horn in Crow Agency, Montana, this full-service hospital provides preventative health services, dialysis, family planning, nursing home care, surgery and much more.
The hospital’s vision statement is “We believe a ‘Healthy Population’ exists through a creative and innovative health care system driven by the health care needs established cooperatively with those we serve,” and is demonstrated through the nurses’ high marks in the overall facility experience, orientation and RN staffing levels categories. For nurses looking to work in smaller, rural settings, taking an assignment with the Indian Health Services could be the perfect match.
Maryvale Hospital - Phoenix, AZ
Known as one of the fastest growing birthing centers in Arizona, Maryvale hospital offers a great learning and practice environment for L&D and other children’s specialty RNs. In addition to excellent opportunity for pediatric nurses, Maryvale is also known for its cardiovascular care and emergency medicine services.
Travelers ranked the facility high in the staff friendliness category, and it also came in at the top of the list when travelers were asked if they would work at the facility again.
Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, WI
Rated number three in the nation by Parents Magazine and nabbing a spot on U.S. News & World Report’s annual list of America’s best hospitals make it is easy to see why Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin was a favorite facility amongst traveling nurses.
Travel nurses specializing in children’s services can find a wide range of opportunities at this busy pediatric facility. In addition to housing a level-1 trauma center, the facility has also ranked nationally in eight pediatric specialties—giving travel nurses on assignment here the opportunity to advance their clinical skills, experience and specialty scopes.
Traveler-Friendly Facilities: Honorable Mentions
The following facilities were chosen for honorable mention by the Travelnursing.com editorial staff:
1. Stanford Medical Center – With almost 100 travel nurses on assignment per year, Stanford Medical Center offers plenty of assignment choices and an excellent clinical environment. The facility staffs travel nurses exclusively with AMN Healthcare companies. To find out how you can be a travel nurse with Stanford Medical Center or one of the other top traveler-friendly facilities, fill out the TravelNursing.com application to speak to an AMN recruiter about opportunities.
2. Children’s Hospital Los Angeles – Travelers on assignment here have the opportunity to further their nursing skills, and rated the facility high in the ability to learn new skills category.
3. Virginia Mason Medical Center – Composed of a network of primary care and specialty clinics throughout the Seattle area, travel nurses found opportunities in a variety of different specialties and practice settings within the Virginia Mason system.
4.Kaiser Sunset Los Angeles Medical Center– Travel nurses ranked Kaiser Sunset extremely high in the nurse manager category. Working at a facility with comprehensive nursing support makes an assignment that much better for traveling RNs.
5.Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital – Nurses who completed an assignment at Lucile Packard ranked the facility high in the ability to learn new skills category, allowing nurses to further their nursing career through travel nursing.
*Travel staffing companies American Mobile Healthcare, NursesRx and Medical Express participated in the survey. The Top 10 facilities were chosen based on highest combined ranking in the following areas: Staff Friendliness, Nurse Manager, Orientation, Patient Safety, Learning New Skills and RN Staffing Levels. The travelers were also asked if they would work at the facility again and if they would recommend it to others. Travelnursing.com did not distinguish ranking or comments based on facility size.
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